The state news agency KCNA, quoting the foreign ministry statement, said the economic restrictions-which US officials estimate could deny the impoverished state more than $2 billion in revenue-were an “act of hostility to physically exterminate the people of” North Korea.

The ministry later said that their evaluation comes from what the North has said about its development and that it is not based on their own intel assessement. These ships come and go from Russian and Chinese ports, where their manifests are apparently not closely inspected.

“The US racket of sanctions and pressure on the DPRK has only hardened the will of the Korean army and people to annihilate the enemies and resulted in making them open up the way to a charge with the sledge-hammer of self-reliance”.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning told reporters Friday that if the IRBM had been a direct threat to USA territory or its allies, “we would have taken appropriate action”. In essence, the United Nations has created an artificial market in which the cheaters win. “If we fail, then it would reveal the hollowness of the missile-defense policy that we have”.

Both China and Russian Federation have repeatedly called for a peaceful solution and talks to resolve the issue.

Actually, let’s state that a little more bluntly.

However, the United States can act unilaterally to increase the costs of dealing under the table with Pyongyang.

The only country to have completely ended diplomatic relations with Pyongyang in recent years was Botswana, which severed ties after a United Nations investigation revealed extensive and widespread human rights abuses in North Korea.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu agreed Monday in NY to work together to fully enforce the latest sanctions on North Korea.

On Friday, North Korea fired an IRBM at a normal angle, which flew 3,700 kilometers and reached an altitude of about 770 kilometers over Japan. Nicknamed “the swan of death”, the B-1B, along with the B-52 and B-2, is one of the three main strategic bombers in the U.S. Air Force.

But some critics have raised questions over the effectiveness of the restrictions, as North Korea is still able to trade internationally.

The president also retweeted messages he sent after the Friday terrorist attack in London, calling for an expansion of his proposed travel ban from Muslim-majority countries and describing attackers as “losers”.

Tillerson said the message is created to bring about cooperation from China, as well as addressing the country’s fears that a regime collapse would flood their border with refugees.